A Little Wager
by graceandfire
Summary: In honor of the new Fast and Furious movie and because some things are just too fun not to happen. Brian O'Conner and John Sheppard in a puddlejumper race. Supporting team antics. A way too invested McKay. Nuff said.
1. Chapter 1

A/N - Yeah, so, I had written a rough cut of this a while back and, in honor of Fast & Furious coming out, decided to polish it up and post it. Technically it's an Epilogue to "Alternate Destiny" where Brian O'Conner gets recruited into the SGC but it stands on its own. All you really have to know is...Puddle Jumper Racing!

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McKay smirked at Brian from across the table and said "You are _so _whipped."

"Excuse me?" Brian aimed a cool glare and a raised eyebrow in McKay's direction.

"You…are…so…_whipped._" This time McKay looked a little smug.

Brian ignored the amused vibes coming from the rest of Sheppard's team sitting around the cafeteria table and instead leaned in to aim a narrow eyed glare filled with enough threat to wipe the smugness off of McKay's pale face. Brian's easy going and friendly nature was bone deep but he could _do_ intimidating when he wanted to. "I could whip _you_ bro," he offered with a grin that hovered between friendly and feral.

McKay squirmed a little under the threat but immediately stiffened, his chin jutting out defensively as he sneered. "Oh, right, threats of violence. Like _that's _new. How about a _real _threat? I could make sure you never get hot water again. I could make your computer turn against you like it was possessed by the freaky little spirit of Damien."

"I could feed you an orange," Brian said mildly and having made his point returned to his food. He scooped up a bite of the potatoes but continued to ignore the main dish. It was blue. Meat just shouldn't be blue.

"Meat shouldn't be blue," he shared, frowning down at it.

"The blue meat tastes fine," McKay said impatiently, anxious to get back to the topic at hand. "You're afraid of Elizabeth."

Brian resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I am not afraid of Liz. I just don't want her to be unhappy." He offered the group surrounding him a wry smile. "I'd think since everyone at this table has threatened me with horrible death if I make her unhappy you'd understand." Since word of Brian dating Elizabeth Weir had leaked which--this being Atlantis--had been about _five minutes_ after they'd gotten together, he'd gotten used to threats. Impressively _creative_ threats.

McKay responded with a dismissive wave. "We meant breaking her heart, cheating on her, turning out to be married, _that _kind of making her unhappy. This is completely different. This is…harmless fun."

Ronon took the time to look up from his plate—he didn't have a problem with the blue meat—and speared McKay with a puzzled look. "You don't even like to fly. Why do you care?"

"It's a matter of scientific inquiry which can only be satisfied by…"

"He's got a bet," John said simply, pausing in pushing his food back and forth on his plate to pin McKay with a smirk.

The rest of the table stared at McKay with varying expressions of amusement and irritation.

"What?" McKay asked defensively.

"You bet on Sheppard and me racing?" Brian asked with a soft laugh, not really surprised. Considering, his eyes narrowed in interest. "What did you bet?"

"Well that's just not important," McKay huffed out indignantly. "My true interest is of a purely scientific nature to see who, if my invaluable life is in danger, can take me to safety the fastest and preserve the best hope that exists for the on-going survival of Atlantis and the Pegasus Galaxy."

Brian turned to Sheppard. "What did he bet?"

Sheppard grinned. "Oh he's got bets with departments all over Atlantis. He stands to rake in a fortune of chocolate, DVD porn, spare hard drives and other electronic equipment, not to mention free massages from Nurse Evans."

"Uh huh," Brian shook his head and didn't bother asking who McKay had bet on. McKay was a pain but he was loyal and there was no way he hadn't bet on Sheppard. Heh. Maybe Brian was a little whipped but he sure as hell wasn't the only one.

He met Sheppard's gaze with an impassive look. "Too bad we're not doing a race. It being against regs and all."

Sheppard nodded back, equally serious. "A damn shame."

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Even though they didn't speak another word on the subject, Brian somehow wasn't surprised at all when he entered the jumper bay at just shy of 0100 hours and found Sheppard there waiting, leaning nonchalantly against the side of a jumper.

Brian grinned at Sheppard. "You do realize McKay is going to be _pissed_ when he finds out we didn't tell him about this?"

Sheppard just smirked back. "Tell him about what?"

Brian's grin widened. This was going to be _fun_.

_to be continued :)_


	2. Chapter 2

Rodney had both the control room and the jumper sensors wired to feed into the videoconferencing units in three of the largest rec rooms to show the race.

Even though Sheppard and O'Conner had tried to be stealthy by sneaking out the ships after midnight, Rodney had _known _there was no way the race wouldn't happen once it was planted in their juvenile, race-happy, jock brains. Anticipating this turn of events, Rodney had motion detectors ready to go, set to trip the moment any jumpers were initiated after hours, sending a signal simultaneously to his laptop and his comm. unit. Upon hearing the expected beep about an hour past midnight, Rodney sent out notification messages to the handhelds of several key people before hurrying to his lab to watch the race. Teyla and Ronon showed up while Rodney was making sure his handheld was giving him the access he had programmed to the jumpers' communications equipment at the same time he'd programmed the cameras and other sensors.

Upon entering, Teyla immediately shot Rodney a disapproving stare. "Rodney, you should not be encouraging such childish behavior from John and Brian."

Rodney snorted. "Oh please, nothing could discourage those two from childish behavior and besides," he defended himself. "Do you know how much I stand to gain when John kicks O'Conner's butt?"

"And are you so sure that John will win this competition?" Teyla asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Of course he'll win," Rodney scoffed. "The jumpers practically sit up and beg every time he comes near them. It's disgusting. And John's an amazing pilot," Rodney tacked on a little self-consciously, glad that Sheppard wasn't there to hear the compliment. "Suicidal but amazing."

"O'Conner's really good too," Ronon stated absently as his eyes followed the jumpers' smooth rise into space. He wondered what course they'd chosen. "In a firefight I'd put my money on Sheppard but in a straight race…" he shrugged, dread locks shifting "it'll be close."

"What, no, O'Conner has to lose," Rodney face went slightly pale at the thought of what he'd have to do to satisfy some of the bets he'd made. Especially the one with, shit…Cadman. Face going paler Rodney watched the jumpers enter a series of loops at a dead heat. _Shit_. Thumbing in the sequence on his handheld that would patch him through to Sheppard he quickly tapped his comm. link.

"John," he whispered, cautiously moving toward the back of the room away from the crowd that was starting to gather around the large LCD screen. "Are you there?"

"_Rodney?_" John's startled response was followed by an irritated "I'm a little _busy _Rodney and how the hell did you know I was in this jumper anyway?"

"Oh please like I couldn't _see_ the testosterone levels rising in the two of you at the thought of being able to illicitly drag race in priceless government property," Rodney hissed. "Now listen John, this is very, very important. You _need_ to win."

"Wow, that's very helpful McKay," John's disembodied voice growled into Rodney's ear. "Maybe if I were left alone to _concentrate_ O'Conner wouldn't be pulling ahead of me right now."

At John's words McKay's focus whipped back to the LCD screen and his face dropped in dismay as he watched O'Conner's jumper shoot ahead. "Yes, yes, focus," he ordered hastily and disconnected over John's irritated drawl. A half second pause and his face brightened with a new idea. "Right, right, distractions." Quickly punching in a second code he hit his comm. unit again. "O'Conner," he hissed.

"McKay?" Brian's surprised response was followed by an irritated "Uh, McKay, can this wait I'm a little…"

"Rodney!"

Teyla's voice was stern and Rodney jumped guiltily. "What?" He asked defensively. "I'm just…"

"You will stop bothering John and Brian _now._"

"But I'm…"

"_Rodney._"

"Fine," McKay snapped back and disconnected Brian's pissed off tones. "But if I end up having to call Zelenka 'Sir' for a week this base will know my discontent!"

TBC

A/N - Sorry, these chapters are a bit short. I decided to post as written rather than doing one longer post. Should be one more to wrap it up.


	3. Chapter 3

As the jumper lifted up into space Brian didn't bother trying to suppress the grin of anticipation. The emotion was shooting out to every molecule of his body and, if the jumper's response was any indication, resulting in an absolutely blissful melding of man and ancient machine. He glanced at the view screens and saw that Sheppard's jumper was hovering at his side.

"Ready?" Sheppard's laconic voice came across his earpiece.

"Hell yeah," Brian felt his grin widen. "See you at the finish line. Don't feel too bad when you come in last."

He heard Sheppard snort at the good natured trash talking. "Big words rookie."

"Yeah," Brian huffed a soft laugh to himself as the line went silent. "People are always telling me that."

And they were off.

Flying a jumper was an amazing cross between the physical, the mental and the emotional. The jumper responded to skilled hands on the controls. It also responded to a disciplined mind and clear, focused mental commands. But what had surprised and thrilled Brian the most when he'd first been introduced to this beautiful machine was that it also responded to desire, to affection, to _need._ And, okay, so maybe Brian didn't _need_ to win—hell, this wasn't life or death, this was a game—but he still really, really _wanted _to.

As adrenaline pumped up his system, sending his reflexes into hyper alert mode, the jumper shot out into the vastness of space, heading towards the nearest planet, a mass of uninhabitable rock. Two loops in what passed for the planet's thin, poisonous atmosphere then a sling shot back into empty space, hurtling towards the next obstacle, an asteroid field.

"This is so Empire Strikes Back," Sheppard had observed as they'd been plotting out their route, looking like a little kid as he grinned with glee at the thought of it. And, yeah, Brian thought as he approached the asteroid belt. It was _exactly_ like Empire Strikes Back and it really didn't get any fucking _cooler _than that. And then he wasn't thinking anything except making it through the field without damage. The jumper's shields could handle any minor hits but a large one would a) cause serious damage b) result in probable death c) be _embarrassing _and worst of all d) he'd have to explain the damage to Liz. So, yeah, no asteroid hits and—_SHIT—_ Brian's heart rate shot into hyper drive as he narrowly avoided a football field size meteor that managed to leap frigging _sideways_ at him_. _"_Fuck_ that was close," he muttered to himself as he reached the edge of the field and shot towards home.

Home. Atlantis. That beautiful, thinking city that welcomed him inside her walls and made him feel like he belonged. "C'mon baby, bring us home," Brian whispered, focus narrowed, every molecule of his body and mind willing his jumper to find that extra juice. A glance at the view screen tracked Sheppard's position and showed that the Colonel had crept ahead, the distance of several thousand yards showing on the screen as barely a millimeter. Brian felt a competitive growl crawling up his throat as he re-doubled his efforts to coach the puddle jumper to even greater speed. Complete concentration was the key not just to winning but to survival at this point. The speeds they were going were _way_ beyond insane and as responsive and intuitive as the Jumper was, any break in focus would _not _result in good stuff.

_There!  
_  
Brian's smile was almost feral as he caught sight of Sheppard's jumper on the view screen. He was catching up. "I'm gonna catch you," he promised fiercely as his own jumper shot forward chasing Sheppard down.

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Rodney watched the viewscreen desperately, willing Sheppard to win with every molecule of his super genius brain. If he was smart enough to save the galaxy—and okay yes, partially destroy a tiny piece of one in an understandable accident—surely his brain could influence the outcome of a race…somehow. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," he muttered.

"Popcorn?" Zelenka asked as he proffered a large bowl that had been decimated down to about one quarter of its original overflowing contents.

"Busy here!" McKay snapped, not taking his eyes off the view screen and data read outs, although his hand did reach out to blindly snag a helping of the popped kernels which he crammed haphazardly into his mouth. Thank you God, Sheppard's jumper was in the lead as they appeared to be headed back to the base. Almost there, almost there, home stretch, home…

"What the _fuck_?" Rodney's voice went up into what Zelenka later assured him was a twelve year old girl's shriek as all of the screens went simultaneously dark.

"What! The! _Fuck__!_" He repeated in rage as he flew forward to the nearest console, fingers flying across the laptop that was running the interfaces.

Ronon was frowning at the dark screens. "We're missing the best part," the large man complained.

"Thank you Captain Obvious!" Rodney snarled. Some of his anger leaked out as confusion set in, his brows furrowing. "That's weird. The connections are all working fine. It's like Atlantis is overriding my…_son of a BITCH!_"

Teyla caught on quickly. "John and Brian have asked Atlantis to override your commands?"

McKay was too busy plotting their deaths to respond. "_I'm going to cause…them…pain!_"

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Brian strode down the lowered ramp of the puddle jumper, grinning at Sheppard who was walking down his own ramp. "Nice race man," he lifted a hand for a manly high five as the two headed towards the jumper bay exit together.

"We've gotta do this again," Sheppard had a gleeful look on his face that reduced him to the age of twelve. "And next time?" He raised his eyebrows meaningfully "Simulated Death Star."

"Where are we going to get a fake Death Star?" Brian asked blankly.

"Rodney will figure something out," John shrugged, confident in McKay's skills.

Brian raised a skeptical eyebrow. "After what we just did to him?" Atlantis was very fond of Brian but she _loved_ Sheppard. Enough to override certain data feeds if Sheppard asked politely enough.

Sheppard just smirked. "I'll talk him around. I mean c'mon. _Death Star._ He won't be able to resist."

Brian just shook his head as they exited. Death Star? Hell yeah.

END

A/N - I hope no one is too disappointed by the ending! In the end I didn't want either of them to lose so I figured I'd let them keep it between themselves :) Besides I didn't think Rodney should win all of his bets but I also didn't want to torture him by losing (especially to Cadman!).


End file.
